Vending machine



- Jan. 28, 1958 c. L. CASEY ET AL 2,821,329

VENDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 9, l950 Z flzo '.Z72 vie/1T0 CHARLES L. CASEY 22 auoosow B. RYNO 1958' c. L. CASEY ETAL VENDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 9, 1950 .J/Zz/e/Z a7" CHARLES L. CASEY JUDDSON B. RYNO United States Patent VENDINGMACHINE Charles L. Casey, Riverside, and Juddson BQRyno, Chicago, 111., assig'nors, by direct and-mesne assignments, to Reliable Engineering C0,, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application December 9, 1950, Serial No. 200,042 1 Claim. (Cl. 221-243 The improved vending machine comprising the present invention is primarily adapted for use in connection with the vending of sanitary napkins in packaged form. The invention, however, is capable of other uses and the same, with or without modification, may be employed in the vending of other articles, whether the articles be packaged or unpackaged.

The vending machine of the present invention is of the type which is commonly known as the tilting shelf type in which the articles to be vended are supported upon an ejector or shelf which, upon insertion of the proper coin or token into the coin sl-ot ordinarily provided in such machines, is adapted to become tilted to release or dump the lowermost article contained in a stack disposed within the machine into the discharge slot of the machine.

It is among the principal objects of the present .invention to provide a machine of the character briefly outlined above in which the ejector member or shelf per se is of a construction having a supporting surface of relatively large area, i. e. at least as large as the area of the bottom side surface of the articles and also having'an integrally formed ejecting flange and holding shelf which serves not only to initiate and effect delivery'ofthe article from the bottom of the stack of articles, but which also serves to hold back the supply when the foremost or bottom article is undergoing delivery from the stack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a vending machine of this type in which the ejectingfiange and holding shelf are of elongated construction and are of a length substantially equal to the length of the articles undergoing dispensing in order that a relatively large area of contact may be made with the bottom side of the lowermost article in the stack for maintaining the entire stack elevated during the dispensing of an article thereby distributing the weight of the stack on the holding shelfand preventing damage to the articles therein as they are dispensed from the stack. I

A still further object of the invention is to provide a vending machine havingsuch an ejector 'flan'ge and-holding shelf for maintaining the stack elevated during the'dispensing operation together with means in the form of a blocking element .or flange on the stack holding shelffor preventing tampering with the contents of the machine or for preventing successful attempts to divert articles contained in the stack, other than the single article contracted for by insertion of a coin in the machine into the discharge chute. 7

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a vending machine of the class described having associated therewith a novel and simplified means for closing the coin slot thereof upon delivery of the last article from the device and for maintaining 'the coin slot in closed condition until the vending machine has been refilled.

With these and other objects in view, which will become more readily apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement'of parts shown ice in the accompanying two sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification.

In' these drawings:

Fig. l is a front e'levational viewof a vending machine constructed in accordance with the'principles of the present invention. 'In this view the front wall-or door of the machine casing is removed to more clearly reveal the nature of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line '2 '2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front'e'levational view similar to Fi'g. 1 showing the machine when the contents thereof have been'dispensed and the coin slot blocked against the insertion of a'coin.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 4--4 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the lower regions of the vending machine as shown in Fig. 2 showing an article undergoing-dispensing.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, a vending machine comprising the present invention involves in its general organization an outer casing or housing 10 which encloses the operative parts of the machine, and which is preferably formed of sheet metal. The casing 10 includes a rear wall 12, side walls 14 and-16 and an open front 18 adapted to be closed by means of a door or the like which ies been omitted from the present disclosure to more clearly reveal the nature'of the operative dispensing mechanism contained within the casing 10. The casing also includes'the top wall '20 and the bottom wall 22.

In'the embodiment of the invention shown, a magazine or holder for a stac'kof articles a is provided and includes a pair of sides or uprights 24 and'26 having inwardly extending retaining flanges 28 along the forward edge thereof and similar retaining flanges '30 along the rear edges thereof. The upright 24 is secured to and extends along the inner side of the side wall 14, while the upright 26 is' spaced from'the sidewall 16. The distance between the main body portion of the uprights 24 and 26 is substantially equal to the length of one of the packagedarticles a in the stack and the distance between each of the flanges 28 and 30 of each pair thereof issubstantially equal to the width of the articles a, so that the articles may be conveniently stacked within the magazine. The flanges 28 are discontinued adjacent the top of the magazine to permit insertion of the articles in the magazine and the articles, when inserted into the magazine over the upper ends of the retaining flanges 28, are adapted to fall by gravity downwardly in the magazine with the lowermost article resting upon a tiltable supporting and ejecting shelf 32, the nature and function of which will be described presently.

A shaft 34 extends across the casing 10 and is supported insuitable bearings 36. The shaft extends completely through the side wall 16 and has mounted thereon outside of the casing 10 an operating knob or handle 38 by means of which the shelf 32 may be oscillated or, in other words, moved from an article supporting position to an article dispensing position, and vice versa.

The stack supporting shelf 32 is in the form of a flat strip of sheet metal stock substantially equal to the length of one of the articles a in the stack and is of a width substantially equal to the width of the articles; thus the underneath surface of the lowermost article in the stack is adapted to make face-to-face contact with the shelf 32 substantially coextensively with the area thereof when the shelf is in its horizontal stack-supporting position.

A supporting bracket 40 which likewise is formed from flat sheet metal stock has one edge thereof turned laterally as at '42 and is spot welded or otherwise secured to the bottom-"surface of the shelf32 in the medial regions thereof- The other edge of the member 40 is curved as at 44 and extends around the shaft 34 to provide a bearing support for the shelf assembly 32. The curved portion 44 of the bracket 40 is provided with a slot 45 therein and a pin 47 fastened to the shaft 34 passes through the slot 45 and, together with the slot, provides a lost motion connection between the shaft 34 and the bracket 40 to permit the shaft to rotate through a predetermined arc to cause a coin to be deposited in the coin receptacle before the actual operation of the discharge mechanism begins to take place. From the above description of parts it will be seen that the shaft 34 constitutes a rock shaft designed for oscillating movement upon manipulation of the knob 38, while the bracket 40 and shelf assembly 32 mounted thereon are capable of limited oscillating movement relative to the shaft 34 upon which they are mounted. A coiled spring 49 surrounds the shaft 34 adjacent one end thereof and has a projecting arm 51 bearing against the bracket 40 and another projecting arm 53 bearing against the outer surface of the flange 62. The spring 49 is normally under tension so as to maintain the shelf assembly 32 so that the shelf portion thereof is in a substantially horizontal position. The forward edge of the shelf 32 is turned upwardly to provide an ejecting flange 46 which normally overlaps the forward side of the lowermost article a in the stack and which is adapted to bear against the forward face of the article and impel the same rearwardly when the shelf 32 is tilted in a counterclockwise direction.

The lower region of the housing 10 constitutes the delivery region for the articles a and a chute plate 48 has its forward edge crimped as at 50 about the forward lower edge of the bottom wall 22 and has its medial regions spot welded or otherwise secured as at 52 to the inner surface of the rear wall 12 of the housing 10. The chute plate 48 may be formed of sheet metal stock and is curved as shown at Figs. 2, 4 and so as to guide an article delivered from the tiltable shelf 32 toward a. discharge opening 54 provided at the bottom of the housing by virtue of a front plate 56, which is secured by means of screws, or the like, 58, one of which is secured to an attachment ear 60 provided on the casing or housing and others of which are secured to an attachment flange 62 likewise secured to the casing 10.

The flange portion 46 of the shelf 32 is turned outwardly and downwardly as at 64 to provide a holding plate or support 66 which is adapted to move into register with the stack of articles a in the magazine and underlie the same in supporting engagement therewith when the shelf 32 has become completely tilted. The upper region of the plate or support 66 is curved inwardly as at 68 toward the ejecting flange 46 to provide a smooth camming surface so that upon tilting of the shelf 32 during the ejecting operation the supporting plate 66 will easily slide under the stacked articles which overlie the article undergoing ejection without tearing, marring or otherwise injuring the underneath surface of the lowermost article in the diminished stack. The supporting plate 66 is imperforate and is of material length and width so that its sliding or camming engagement on the underneath surface of the lowermost article in the stack during and after ejection of an article takes place will distribute the area of frictional contact with the article to further prevent damaging of the surface thereof. The extreme edge of the plate 66 is adapted to bear upon an inturned flange 69 formed on the front plate 56 to determine the limiting position of the article supporting shelf 32, such limiting position, of course, being the horizontal one.

The oscillating movements of the shaft 3-4 and consequently the tilting of the ejector shelf assembly 32 are adapted to be controlled by a conventional coin control mechanism such as has been illustrated in slight detail and designated in its entirety at 70. The mechanism 70, however, may be of various types and for the purpose of illustration is shown herein as being provided with a' coin slot 72 and a coin receiving disc 74 mounted on the shaft 34 which, when a coin of the proper denomination has been inserted in the slot 72, subsequently receives the coin by gravity and operates certain trip or latch mechanisms (not shown) which will release the disc 74 and permit turning movement of the shaft 34 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 to actuate the ejecting plate assembly 32 and at the same time deposit the coin by gravity into a removable coin receptacle 76. A spring 77 is provided for the purpose of returning the disc 74 to its coin receiving position. Means are provided to effectively block the coin slot 72 when the last article from the stack contained within the magazine has been ejected. Toward this end the invention contemplates interposing an obstruction across the opening of the coin slot 72. A lever 80 is pivoted as at 81 to the retaining flange .28 next adjacent the coin control mechanism 70 and normally this lever 80 is adapted to hangunder the influence of gravity in a vertical position wherein it assumes a position in axial parallelism with the flange 28. An interposer member or finger 82 is secured to the lever 80 medially thereof at a level substantially, coincident with the level of the coin slot. A triangular plate 84 is secured to the lower end of the lever 80 and has an inclined edge 36 which is designed for camming engagement with a projecting finger 88 welded or otherwise secured to one upper edge of a U-shaped weight 90 whose bottom dimension is substantially equal to the dimension of the uppermost article a in the stack. The triangular'plate 84 lies directly in the path of movement of the finger 88 on the weight 90. The weight 90 descends in the magazine progressively as the articles are periodically ejected from the stack and at such time as the last article ,in the stack has been ejected from the ejector plate assembly 32, the finger 88 engages the inclined edge 86 of the triangular plate and causes the lever 80 to be swung in a counterclockwise direction, or to the right as viewed in Fig. 1, so that the interposer finger 82 extends across the coin slot 72 and effectively blocks the.

same. It is not until the operator has removed the weight 90 preparatory to refilling the magazine that the finger 82 will be withdrawn from its obstructing position across the entrance to the slot 72.

It has been found in actual practice that Where vending. machines of this general type are installed in public places, as for example washrooms, that certain persons will takeadvantage of the fact that when the ejecting shelf assembly 32 is tilted and the lowermost article in the stack ejected, the next succeeding article in the stack which rests upon the stack holding support 66 is exposed to the interior of the discharge space or chute which exists in the vicinity of the discharge opening 54 and that, either by use of the hand or by use of a suitable tool as, for

example, a piece of bent hooked wire, they may, without requiring any particular skill, pry or tilt the lowermost article in the stack to a position on the stack holder support wherein it possesses a degree of unstable equilibrium and moves into register with the discharge chute so that the article will, when the hand or tool is withdrawn, tumble into the latter. Not only will the lowermost article fall into the discharge chute but occasionally the remaining articles in the stack will automatically become tilted in unison and the entire stack will avalanche, so to speak, into the discharge chute. Thus, a customer by maintaining a grip upon the operating knob 38 to cause the shaft 34 to remain in its advanced position wherein the ejector shelf is tilted, may within a short time secure possession of all of the articles contained within the stack.

It has also been found that because of the lost motion connection existing by virtue of the pin 47 and slot 45, a skillful manipulator may occasionally withdraw one or more articles from the machine without even inserting an initial coin or token. If the hand and arm are sufficiently small it is possible for a person with the aid of van improvised tool to engage the rear edge of the ejector assembly 32 and tilt the same against the action of the spring 49 without depositing a coin while at the same time extending the arm through the discharge chute to manually engage the lowermost article in the stack.

In order to prevent such theft of the articles from the machine the rear edge of the supporting shelf 32 is provided with an angularly disposed obstruction flange 92 which normally extends to a region in close proximity to the rear wall 12 of the machine, thus obstructing access to the stack when the machine is in its normal condition. After a coin has been inserted in the machine and the ejector assembly 32 tilted to the position shown in Fig. 5, the obstructing flange 92 depends downwardly as shown and provides a partial obstruction in the discharge chute which is sufiiciently elfective to prevent a contemplative unlawful manipulator from having manual access to the stack and rendering it more difiicult to obtain an article by the use of improvised tools. 1

Changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of parts from those disclosed herein without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the attendant advantages thereof, provided, however, that such changes fall within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

The invention is hereby claimed as follows:

A vending machine comprising, in combination, a magazine adapted to contain a stack of superimposed articles having flat bottoms, a discharge chute to the rear of and extending downwardly and forwardly beneath said magazine, a horizontal rock shaft below said magazine, an ejector device loosely mounted on said rock shaft, a slot in said ejector device and a pin on said rock shaft extending through said slot, whereby said shaft may be rotated freely through a predetermined distance and continued rotation thereof will cause said pin to strike the end of said slot and rotate said ejector device, means to rotate said rock shaft thereby to tilt said ejector rearwardly,

said ejector including a flat supporting plate adapted when in its normal position to support the lowermost article in the stack thereon, a coiled spring around said shaft adjacent one end thereof yieldingly maintaining said ejector in its normal position, an upstanding flange on the forward side of said plate of a height less than the height of an article, whereby the lowermost article will be discharged rearwardly into the chute upon tilting movement of the ejector, an arcuate support member curved forwardly and downwardly from the upper edge of said upstanding flange and adapted to support the stack of articles when the lowermost one thereof is being discharged, and an obstructing flange extending rearwardly and downwardly from the rear edge of said plate, said obstructing flange completely blocking said discharge chute when said ejector is in its normal position, and partially blocking said discharge chute when the ejector is tilted rearwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 892,956 Haverly July 7, 1908 1,105,708 Shamroy Aug. 4, 1914 1,217,616 Mann Feb. 27, 1917 1,504,638 Mann Aug. 12, 1924 1,570,993 Cook Jan. 26, 1926 1,675,511 Nolan July 3, 1928 1,688,402 Smith Oct. 23, 1928 1,766,297 Macke June 24, 1930 1,963,521 Gottfried et a1 June 19, 1934 1,975,540 Folger Oct. 2, 1934 2,064,843 Mills Dec. 22, 1936 2,250,351 Blake July 22, 1941 2,427,321 Casey et al. Sept. 9, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS 684,638 France Mar. 18, 1930 

